New faces on the farm

I haven’t been very good about updating the blog. Between our Facebook page, Instagram account and this blog…I wonder if it’s overkill. I wonder if people care to hear & see it all. So the blog gets neglected.

But we do have some new faces around the farm these days. Allow me to introduce you.

Kalua, Carnita & Riblet

Three little pigs joined us 2 months ago. They are all girls and of course so adorable, funny, loud & very piggy. Carnita has been renamed to Spicy Carnita, because her personality is…spicy. She’s a biter. I pet someone else and she goes in for a nibble. She’s left a few bruises on me. Riblet is a funny pig, she doesn’t mind being held. Which is totally not normal. They usually squeal bloody murder. Spicy Carnita & Riblet are both Duroc/Berkshire X. Kalua has the big floppy ears and she is the sweetest. She loves belly rubs & almost purrs when she gets one. She is a Red Wattle/Old Spot X.

It makes me happy to know they are happy & live a great life. Only one bad day.

Five Free Ducks

A neighbor had posted on our neighborhood page some garden items as they were getting ready to move. I went over to buy a bunch of rabbit cages and a greenhouse. While I was there they asked “Hey, would you want these ducks? For free? We just want them to go to a good home.” Uh, yeah! Why not! So we loaded them into a dog crate and suddenly we owned five ducks.

They have no names, they have no interest in bonding with me. So they are all just called “Duck”. We got our first duck egg the next morning…they just plopped them out right in the yard. They must have been confused as where to put them.

They are great layers, we get 3-5 ducks eggs everyday. They don’t taste much different from chicken eggs. However, they are way bigger! Huge yolks. They are a little thicker and richer in texture and the shells are much thicker. Duck eggs are also an alkaline producing food, where duck eggs are an acid producing food. Interesting stuff!

They are right at home now and share the coop with the chickens.

‘Duck enrichment’ = 80 goldfish from the feed store.

Baby Chicks!

In late July one of our chickens, Chickaletta, went broody. She wouldn’t leave the nesting box, she wanted to hatch some eggs! This was our first broody hen, and through some research I found that you can ‘break’ them of their broodiness. But this entails isolation, ice water baths…some weird stuff I wasn’t about to try. So I could either give her eggs to sit on, or let her sit on nothing for who knows how long. Maybe months. Broodiness is a hormonal change, and I don’t now about you- but when I’m hormonal I definitely would not appreciate an ice bath or any other methods to “break” me of my moodiness. Uh, I mean broodiness.

So I gave her 5 eggs to sit on. We have a rooster, so it’s pretty much guaranteed they are all fertile. About 5 days in, I was able to candle the eggs with a flashlight.

And luckily, 4 out of the 5 eggs showed development! On day 21, they hatched! Sadly, one hatched overnight and the other chickens ate the chick. No sign of it the next morning- disgusting & disturbing. I had intended to move the hen and her eggs to a brooder, but wanted to give her as much space as I could, for as long as I could. I regretted not moving her sooner to save that chick…but now I know.

Check out these cheeping eggs!

Sadly, 2 days ago {at 9 weeks old} one of the chicks was killed by something, a hawk I think. The 2 remaining chicks are thriving & free range all day.